• ʙʟᴀᴢᴇᴅ | Theodore Nott •

CHAPTER ONE | OPENINGS

When dawn touched my window sill with yellow light, I sensed it through closed eyelids and opened them, hearing then the renewed bustle and hurry of Rylee pacing the room, seeing the familiar patterned beams of our dorm ceiling. I suppress a groan, already knowing she's woken us all up much earlier than we need to be. Both her and Chase call me a heavy sleeper, but I really just pretend to stay asleep longer than I actually am in the mornings.

Within the shadows of my bed, I hold my eyes open to mere slits, observing my two best friends: Rylee paces the room in her usual frantic fit, her braids flying around as she turns directions and scurries around quickly to find something she's probably misplaced. Chase sits propped up in her bed, pressing an ice roller under her eyes as she scrolls on her phone.

"Is Cairo still asleep?" Rylee calls across the room. I promptly close my eyes, hiding my smirk under the sheets as Chase looks my direction.

"Nah. It's six a.m., wha'do you expect?" She says. Rylee's only response is a scoff.

Six in the morning, Jesus. I roll over, my cat, Rosco, curled up in a tight ball in front of me. Chase always said his golden fur in the sunlight made him look like a crescent roll. I bring a hand out from under my blanket to grab and pull him to my chest. He begins to purr quietly.

"Can you stop pacing around like that? We literally have an hour before we even have to leave," Chase complains, causing Rylee to stop in her tracks and groan.

"I know, it just makes me feel more productive." She pauses, sighing. "Maybe I did wake us up a little early."

"You think so, dipshit?" I finally speak up, giving up my act. Chase laughs.

"I guess she was awake," she says as Rylee grabs a pillow and pelts it at my face. I block it with a hand, chucking it back at her as I sit up in my bed.

"Thank God you didn't say yes to being a Prefect," Rylee comments jokingly. I roll my eyes, heaving myself out of my bed and giving a dramatic and prolonged yawn. Sure, I was overly committed in just about every department of this school, but being a Prefect was never really my thing.

Chase was right; barely an hour later, we three had left Gryffindor Commons and started heading down the Great Hall. It was the first day of our sixth year, and Chase and I had reluctantly agreed to help Rylee change her schedule so she could get out of Arithmancy.

"Did they get me mixed up with Cai or something? I never signed up for that hellish class, as if I have even half the knowledge to be there," she had said, otherwise pleased with her schedule when we had gotten them the night before.

We take a shortcut through the clocktower courtyard, Chase ranting about some dream she had when my eyes land on the infamous Slytherin shit show. Draco Malfoy, Lorenzo Berkshire, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini and Mattheo Riddle all crowd together next to the concrete statue poised at the middle of the clearing, laughing and jeering loudly with pretentious smirks on their faces. After studying the scene for a bit longer, I notice that Draco is advancing on an incredibly younger Hufflepuff boy - likely a first year. Chase notices what i'm about to do before I even falter my step.

"Cai, come on. If you confront Malfoy every single time he bullies someone this year, you won't have time for anything else," she says with a groan, but i've already started walking over to them. No matter how hard I try, I just can't stop myself from defending kids from this asshole.

"Just meet me in potions, go fix your schedule," I say, it actually making me laugh a little as I see their annoyed faces. They might be pissed now, but I know they'd both be eager for me to tell them what had happened as soon as I arrive.